Sankranthi
From Free net encyclopedia
Sankranthi, or Sankranti (సంక్రాంతి in Telugu), is a festival that signifies the beginning of the harvest season for the farmers of India.
Also called 'Makara Sankranthi', it is celebrated primarily in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka & Maharashtra. From this day onwards the sun with respect to the earth starts moving towards north signaling the oncoming of summer. The grand sire of Mahabharatha, Bheeshmacharya, waited for this day to die and ascend to Brahmaloka.
The auspicious day of Sankranthi is celebrated as Pongal in Tamil Nadu. Typically in Andhra Pradesh, the festival is celebrated for three days. The day before Makara Sankranthi is known as Bhogi. On this day, early in the morning, old items in the house such unusable clothes, broken furniture are set on fire. Also while the old items are burnt, people start drumming on a small hand-held drum which is also thrown into the fire, in the end. A small twig, with dambar on the end is prepared as the stick used for drumming. On Sankranthi, people wear new clothes and visit temples to celebrate the harvest. The third day is known as Kanuma. As cinema is a highly popular medium in the state of Andhra Pradesh, a bounty of films, featuring the biggest of stars release on this day. The winner of this battle, is generally crowned the "King of the Box Office" for the year.
Makar Sankranti is one of the most auspicious day for the Hindus, and is celebrated in almost all parts of the country in myriad cultural forms, with great devotion, fervor & gaiety. Lakhs of people take a dip in places like Ganga Sagar & Prayag and pray to Lord Sun. It is celebrated with pomp in southern parts of the country as Pongal, and in Punjab is celebrated as Lohri & Maghi. Gujarati's not only look reverentially up to the sun, but also offer thousands of their colorful oblations in the form of beautiful kites all over the skyline. They may be trying to reach upto their glorious God or bring about greater proximity with the one who represents the best. It is a day for which Bhishma Pitamah kept waiting to leave his mortal coil.
Makar Sankranti is the day when the glorious Sun-God of Hindus begins its ascendancy and entry into the Northern Hemisphere. Sun for the Hindus stands for Pratyaksha-Brahman - the manifest God, who symbolizes, the one, non-dual, self-effulgent, glorious divinity blessing one & all tirelessly. Sun is the one who transcends time and also the one who rotates the proverbial Wheel of Time. The famous Gayatri Mantra, which is chanted everyday by every faithful Hindu, is directed to Sun God to bless them with intelligence & wisdom. Sun not only represents God but also stands for an embodiment of knowledge & wisdom. Lord Krishna reveals in Gita that this manifested divinity was his first disciple, and we all know it to be indeed a worthy one too. No Sundays for the Sun, may be because one who revels in its very 'being', the very essence of his own Self, is always in the Sunday mood.
The co-relation of cosmic events with individual life and values is one of the most astounding traits of Hindu Masters. Once this co-relation is brought about thereafter these cosmic events become instrumental to remind us the best which we cherish & value. Of all the cosmic bodies Sun is the most glorious & important, thus every sun-centric cosmic event became very important spiritual, religious & cultural events. On Makar Sankranti day the Sun begins its ascendancy and journey into the Northern Hemisphere, and thus it signifies an event wherein the Gods seem to remind their children that 'Tamaso Ma Jyotir Gamaya'. May you go higher & higher - to more & more Light and never to darkness.
